John Curtin: Prime Minister and journalist

In his first Australia Day radio talk as a wartime prime minister, John Curtin affirmed: 'The flameless freedom, first lit by our settlers, kept aglow by the generations who followed, is not extinguishable by any enemy'. The next day, Australian newspaper publishers praised his 'forceful' speech, emphasised his 'nationhood' slogans, supported his appeal to 'mobilise all we have' and reproduced his words prominently. Striving to promote Australians' fighting contributions in the battle against totalitarian enemies, Curtin publicised national ideals of democracy, courage and liberty by developing innovative media techniques